The SDFLA Blog is dedicated to providing news and notes regarding federal practice in the Southern District of Florida. The New Times calls the blog "the definitive source on South Florida's federal court system." All tips on court happenings are welcome and will remain anonymous. Please email David Markus at dmarkus@markuslaw.com

Tuesday, February 07, 2006

Elections v. Appointments?

Over at the MJB blog, there's a lot of talk about the state judicial elections and which judges are drawing opposition. The whole election of judges thing* is amazing to me. Judges aren't really permitted to campaign, except to post lots of signs around town. There is no debating the issues. There is no platform. There is just who has the better and more electable name. Seems silly...

We have it much better over here, don't we?

*Even more amazing to me is that our state PD has to run for election. How do you campaign -- "I lost more cases than anyone else?"

1 comment:

In San Francisco we elect the PD. We had a seriously contested election recently, and amazingly, a very experienced, competent veteran of the PD department won. A version of the story here. That said, I agree that it is strange to think that we elect these kind of officials.

The Southern District of Florida blog was started by David Oscar Markus, who is a criminal trial and appellate lawyer in Miami, Florida. He frequently practices in federal courts around the country, including his hometown, the Southern District of Florida and the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals. He is a former law clerk to then-Chief Judge of the District, Edward B. Davis.